1 of a Kind - Tree Scent Ornaments - Wood Spools

Tree Scent Ornaments are ornaments on your artificial Christmas tree that are oil diffusers.  You place oil on the felt and it makes your tree smell like you want.  If you want it to smell like a real tree you can place essential oil that would give you that scent. I discovered last year that I no idea what kind of tree we had when we were kids.  I believe they were spruce trees.  You could also choose any scent that makes it Christmas for you.  I have made a variety of these ornaments last year and will continue this year with new styles this year.

I saw samples of these spools with embroidered wool on line over a year ago.  I really liked them.  

This was a project by Susan Lenz.  You can check out her blog post here.

Many of her wooden spools are older than mine and have the words embedded in the top and bottom ends of the spools.

She filled a small wooden bassinet of these.  It must have taken her a long time.

I had collected small pieces of wool at the ReUse center over the last 6 months.

These small spools come from Mom's stash.  She saved her spools and of course she sewed for many years when thread was sold on wooden spools instead of the plastic we have today. The wooden spool was eliminated in the 1970's.

I started with a 5 small wooden thread spools which I sealed with Modge Podge several days ago.  They measure about 1.25 inches tall and 1" around.

I gathered my bits of wool, my embroidery thread, a bucket of felt and a bucket of buttons and tackled this project.  Something good to listen to on the TV and a cup of tea.  I was there way longer than I expected. 

Raw wood works as a diffuser as well so any drops running down from the top will go down the center of the spool and be absorbed.

I am not sure that taking the time to seal the outside did much.  I was hoping to make the edges more warmed tone.  You don't see much of the spool at the end.

This wool was a left over from a sweater which may have shrunk.  I cut it 1" wide and 3" long.

There was a bit of pink on the edge which inspired me to  use pink thread on this one.

I split my embroidery thread into 3 strand lengths.  It is great to work with this material as there are not unravelling edges and it is quite thick.

I just made it up as I went which a rudimentary knowledge of some embroidery stitches.

Here I put different border stitches and daisies around the center.

The felt pieces on the top and bottom are cut about 1" across.

I chose medium sized pink buttons for this one.

On this ornament I used the pattern in the wool to guide my embroidery in the middle of the spool. 

The turquoise 100% cotton thread I used was not standard embroidery floss.  I split it as usual but I had a really hard time keeping it integral.  It would just come apart sometimes.  I will keep it in it's 2 strand version next time.

Turquoise felts on the top and bottom with tan buttons which matched well with the fabric I used.

I did not have any regular embroidery floss in the right color.  I am not sure where I collected this thread as it is packaged like the other stuff.  It was for sure at a Thrift store.

On this ornament, I embroidered white snowflakes on the navy blue portions of the fabric.

I managed to do the blanket stitch along the top and bottom edges.

White felt on top and bottoms with smallish navy button over the that layer.

I did not have any trouble when I used the regular embroidery thread, in this case white.

This fabric as other colors and patterns to it will make more spools and they will look different.

The wool on this ornament was very thick and the colors were quite mottled.  You can see that the fabric sticks out quite a bit from the wood edge.

I chose a denim blue embroidery thread and put blanket stitch along both edges.  I put diamond shapes around the middle.

The wool circles on the top were denim blue and here the buttons are a bit larger and I think it works better.

Again, I think this fabric was a shrunken wool garment and that is why it is to thick.

I think esthetically the fabric is a bit too thick as I just wanted to fill in the well on the spool.

On this last one, I chose the fabric for the color and it was cotton flannel instead of wool.  This comes with challenges. The edges are not integral.  On this one I folded the top and bottom edges to the inside and that worked well.

The biggest challenge was finishing the edges where the ends meet.  That had to be finished with a folded edge and I sewed that with regular thread.  Then when it came to connecting them at the back I used the red embroidery thread as I had been on the others.  The bigger buttons for sure look better.

I would not use flannel again, it was just too much work.  Three layers of layers fills in the space on the spool the nicest.

I do have some pieces of wool suiting which might be a better weight but may have the same edge problems as this flannel.

These are ones for now.  I have other styles I want to make.   I found the dimensional ones sold the best last year.  Stuffed hearts are easy and I can make snowmen and gingerbread men as well. 

Small Gifts - Oil Diffusers - One of a Kind - Set 3

I am loving this creative process of making cool felt diffusers for these diverse type of containers. 

Here, I have a two inch square crystal napkin holder laid down flat with the hole facing up.  I made a different type of felt flower for this one.  You can find the tutorial for this flower here. 

Teal Blossom - I chose teal felt and cut six 2 inch circles then a yellow one for the center of the flower and a green one for the base.  I thought the green one suggests leaves without having actual leaves imposing onto the edge of the glass. I really wanted to be able to see the 4 corners of the napkin holder.

The video suggests hot glue but I chose to stitch this flower together which makes a cleaner end product.

I then stitched it to a white felt ball which helps the flower stay in place on the napkin holder.

This flower design is full and very easy to put together.

On the right is a photo of the top. 

With the oil being placed on the yellow center it will keep any discoloration to a minimum.

With Love Cup - This is a beautiful Mikasa - With Love pattern ivory bone china cup from the early 1980's.  

I decided to make the diffuser an ivory felt stuffy decorated with a  round petal pattern. 

I found this Petal Pattern video on line. The opening of the cup measures 2.75 inches but I needed to add some for seams and for puffiness. I cut 2 ivory felt circles measuring 3.5 inches in diameter and sewed them together with a 1/4 inch seam leaving an opening to turn it inside out. I then stuffed it with cotton batting and slip stitched the opening closed.  I then created the petal pattern according to the video using warm rose yarn to match the cup.

To accent the center I added a warm green circle topped with a gold metal filigree accent which was stitched on with the same yarn. 

I have created a spacer to place under the petal to keep it at the top of the cup.  I could keep the drops of oil to the center to lessen an discoloration of the ivory felt.  This diffuser would fit in nicely in a kitchen, a dining room, a reading nook or even on a bedside table. 

Time to Unwind - A ball of variegated yarn to encompass many shades of brown and reds which brings in the colors in the basket as well.  I created the ball by hand to be just the right size for the basket.

I created custom sized knitting needles from skewers cut down to about 4 inches.  I glued wooden beads to the blunt end.  Once the beads were dry I used Distress Ink of Antique Linen and Vintage Photo to add some color to the needles to be more in keeping with the overall color scheme. 

I added the More Mustard tag which was color printed and punched with the 2 inch circle punch.

Perfect quiet time to enjoy the aromatherapy of essential oils.

Triangular Trio - A set of three felt flowers with white pom pom centers set in a triangular bottle.

The flowers are purple, grey and light blue.  Each has a yellow fringe surrounding the white pom in the middle.

Each flower has a twisted silver wire stem which is terminated at the bottom with a iridescent ebead just before the end curl.

I have wrapped a length of yellow grosgrain ribbon around the neck of the bottle to repeat the yellow in the bouquet.

The essential oil can be applied to either the felt or the pom pom. The essential oil may discolor the white centers.

I wanted a less flowery option in a diffuser.

Tiny Beer - This diffuser started with a vintage etched crystal shot glass with a nice handle. It measures 4 inches tall. 

I rolled a piece of ginger colored felt to be the beer and placed it in the bottom of the glass.

Now I needed to create the frothy foam at the top of the drink.  I rummaged through  my yarn stash to find a messy white yarn which I wrapped around a white pom pom.  I secured the head to the beer with hot glue.

I think it looks great!

Small Gifts - Car Cup Holder Coasters

A car coaster collects the drips, drops, spills, crumbs and other stuff that ends up in our car cup holders.

I made up some with supplies I had on hand. These were made with felt circles.

I started with an 3.25" circle which was hand cut.  I stacked onto it 3 more circles of various colors and sizes.  I took them to the sewing machine and stitched in a spiral manner from the outside to the center of the coasters. Since the circles were felt buttons I added a coordinating thread through the whole coaster and knotted it on the front.  This can be used to remove the coaster from the holder.  These can be washed and reused. 

I made 10 sets so we will see how things go.  I mixed and matched a bunch of colors.  Red and White Canadian in the top left corner, the Elks one in position three in the top row with a few summer colors and Christmas red white and green.  The tags are 2.5 inches with rounded corners and it was placed between the 2 coasters which are back to back. They are stitched on with white cotton thread.